Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers

After watching the first movie, the anticipation and hype for the second movie intensified. My initial worry was that it is almost impossible to follow up a decent movie with a sequel that is as good, especially when it’s the middle movie of a trilogy.

As I started to watch The Two Towers my initial worries were gone; the same imagery was very prevalent and I instantly found myself transformed back into the realm of Middle Earth. While there was a year between the movies, it was interesting that I managed to settle back in so quickly. I point out here that as this is a middle movie in a series that is interlinked, it is advised that you watch the first movie – a lot of what happens in the first movie is very important, and the second movie simply will not make sense.

Yet again Peter Jackson has transformed the magical world of Tolkien into a beautiful and amazing on-screen rendition. With sets that continue to take my breath away, with their sheer beauty and vision, the atmosphere created is amazing. What amazes me is that the visions I had as a child while I read the book were very similar to Peter Jackson’s vision – it was very evident that he is a huge fan of the books.

For full opinion click here.

Battlestar Galactica (Series 1)

I am a self confessed geek and have been watching sci-fi space shows for years. I tend to prefer series that develop characters and have a strong underlying plot that keeps you intrigued while still allowing for enjoyment of the individual episodes. My personal favorite (so far) was Babylon 5.

I remember watching the original series of Battlestar Galactica and while it was an interesting show, having ‘grown up’ I felt the original was more for teenagers than for adults. The characters were all ‘tongue-in-cheek’ and a lot of the episodes had that same quality of early Star Trek – that is, the good guy beats up the bad guy and all is well. Therefore due to my opinion of the original series, I had little interest in a remake as I wrongly assumed it would be much the same. Having recently re-watched all the Babylon 5 series, and even delving into the spin-off series that wasn’t anywhere as near as good, I finally took the plunge and bought Battlestar Galactica: series one.


The miniseries starts the show off, with basically a long introduction to some of the characters, and the beginnings of the web of intrigue that is the story. After a fifty year truce, the Cylons (faithful robot servants that turned against humanity) break the truce and bombard all of human’s colonies with nuclear weapons (I note that Earth is not included as a colony, but is some mythical place that no-one believes in). Commander Adama (James Olmos) leads a fleet of surviving ships away from the colonies in search of this mystical planet.

The miniseries introduces all the main characters from the new President Roslin (Mary McDonnell), who as a lowly Secretary of Education becomes the president when all other people in line to the presidency are killed, to Gaius Baltor (James Callis) - perhaps my favorite character of the series, who falls in love with a woman who turns out to be a Cylon I forgot to mention that Cylons now look like humans . Through his affair with this Cylon he somehow manages to give away military secrets that lead to the attack on humanity – his ‘betrayal’ of humanity is a major theme throughout the series as he continues to battle his guilt over the ‘betrayal’.

For full opinion click here.

88 Minutes

I admire Al Pacino. He’s had an illustrious career and starred in some great movies – Scent of a Woman being one that instantly springs to mind; mostly though he has starred in ‘rugged’ thriller movies that usually involve an assortment of guns and bad guys. Through the years he has starred in a few turkeys, but none have been quite as inane or less entertaining than this one. SO – my advice – don’t waste your money on this movie – no need to read the rest of my review even!!!

OK so you’re still here I guess…so I better write something…

88 Minutes is billed to be a thriller – it’s supposed to inspire terror and keep you on the edge of your seat. The clips you see in the trailer are perhaps the only ones you need to see. Take a book with you if you must go and watch this

For full review click here.

Napster

*****NEWS FLASH****

Napster announces a summer discount plan:

Read more here.

*****NEWS FLASH*****

Napster announced today that it's entire collection of 6,000,000 songs are now DRM free. This means that you can now purchase a digital song from Napster and use it on any mp3 player (including iPod, iPhone), burn it to a CD, or PC - or use it in any way you see fit without restriction. Napster is now the largest DRM free store (Apple has 2,000,000 DRM free songs). Click the link below and look at the section on the right of the screen listed as 'new'


*****END*****

Talk to anyone about Napster and they’ll tell you about the great days when you could share music with any one in the world for free. Many will neglect to tell you that this was illegal, and ultimately led to the downfall of Napster.

What many will not tell you, or maybe not even know is that Napster still exists, and in a wholly legal way.

**The New Napster**

Napster compete for the illustrious digital download pot with the likes of Microsoft (Zune), Real (Rhapsody), Yahoo (Yahoo Music) and the phenomenal Apple iTunes (and their ubiquitous iPod). Realizing that they cannot compete directly with the likes of Apple, they created a new ‘idea’ that delivered music in a different way, and sparked a debate of renting v owing music.

Napster currently have three different and unique ways of listening to music:

1) Subscription services- where you pay a monthly fee and are able to listen to any of their three million songs as long as you continue to subscribe.
2) Standard Download – in a similar vein to Apple, users can pay a fee for each song downloaded.
3) Free music – yes you heard it – Napster gives the ability to stream free ‘low quality’ music, from their whole catalogue (with restrictions).

**Subscription Service**

The idea is simple; pay a monthly fee and gain access to Napster’s complete library of music. There are two versions: Napster Subscription ($9.99 a month) and Napster-to-go ($14.95 a month).


For full opinion click here.

American Beauty

With the spate of movies that regurgitate the same old scripts, or indeed remake old classics, there are only a couple of seemingly ‘new’ movies. As I scanned through Netflix, looking for movies with my favorite actor in them (Kevin Spacey) I came across two movies I consider classics. K-Pax was one watch out for a review shortly – I will be watching this movie tonight!, American Beauty the other.

I must admit, when this first came out I really had not interest. The ‘fantasy’ that this movie portrays albeit one that is perhaps based on reality simply had no pull to me. Eventually though it turned up on TV and as there was absolutely nothing else on the other 193 channels, I decided to watch it.

From the very first captivating scene, in which you are essentially seeing the movie’s ending, you are instantly drawn into the movie. Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a very successful man, he has a wonderful family but his life is somewhat repetitive and staid.

For full opinion click here.

PS2: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

I’ve been playing computer games since I was a teenager, and now I’m in the forties I still enjoy the challenge and excitement of a good game. Mostly I like RPG and strategy, but occasionally I will try different types of games. Generally I play games ‘alone’ on the PC, but find that I am able to play more games with my children on the PS2, Xbox 360, Wii etc.

Having watched the Lord of the Rings movies I therefore became very intrigued with the ‘spin-off’ games, especially as the characters in the game look like the characters in the movie….

Having played various games on different platforms that link into Tolkien’s world (The Hobbit, LOTR: fellowship of the ring’, and online multiplayer RPG and a few realllllly old RPG games I was intrigued to see if the masterful Electronic Arts could actually capture the essence of the world portrayed in the movie as well as the feel and atmosphere of the books.

Electronic Arts (EA) ‘stamp’ is obvious from the outset. While I would have expected this type of game to be a pretty traditional RPG (there is even a Middle Earth Role Playing game that they could have drawn the rules from – for a ‘paper and dice’ system, the MERP game is pretty decent ermmm so I’ve been told – I AM NOT A NERD…I am a GEEK…there is a difference!.

EA took the bold move of making this game into a mission based beat-em-up, which removes most of the elements you would expect from a game set in a fantasy world – gone are the mind boggling puzzles you know, stand on the platform, pull the lever and twiddle your wand and the constant traveling between locations that you have already visited 700 times before this annoys me about RPG games – I visit one location to find the magic harp, and ten minutes later I’m there again to pick up the purple pickle…why didn’t I see the pickle when I found the harp? I would simply have picked both items up and saved a whole lot of walking. Gone is the ‘item’ manipulation no more using the aforementioned pickle, placing it between a slice of bread, adding the mystical hamburger and feeding it to the guard dog so you can move on.

So EA made it into a mission based...

To read full opinion click here.

Netflix.com

My recent spate of reviews on movies has been down to Netflix. While there are many movies I love, I recently sold most of my DVD collection on eBay to free up some cash. This was a major disappointment to me. However, I joined Netflix, and while I do not own any of the movies I receive, I am able to go back and effectively ‘rent’ some of the classic movies I was forced to sell.

About Netlix

Netflix is essentially your local DVD rental store online. However, it’s not as simple as that – whereas in a local video store you rent one movie at a time, have a limited time to view the movie, and pay for each movie, Netflix allows you to rent as many movies as you want (based on your subscription) and keep the movies as long as you want.

In addition, most plans allow you to watch movies on your PC.

The Sign-Up and available plans

On signing up you are giving many choices on the subscription service you want. These range from the cheapest that allows you to rent 1 movie at a time with a limit of two per month up to 8 movies at a time with unlimited movies per month. The full details are (note this is copied directly from Netflix.com):

8 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $47.99 (includes unlimited instant watch)
7 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $41.99 (includes unlimited instant watch)
6 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $35.99 (includes unlimited instant watch)
5 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $29.99 (includes unlimited instant watch)
4 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $23.99 (includes unlimited instant watch)
3 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $16.99 (includes unlimited instant watch)
2 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $13.99 (includes unlimited instant watch)
1 at-a-time (Unlimited) for $8.99 (includes unlimited instant watch)
1 at-a-time (2 a month) for $4.99

The registration is pretty easy – you do need a major credit card to sign-up as all your monthly subscriptions will be automatically be charged to the credit card.

Cancellation is also a breeze – it’s a simple case of logging into your account and clicking a hyperlink – the cancellation is instant (although you can still use the service up until the end of the current month paid for). I cancelled the service twice - once after the trial and once after a three month term – I cancelled as I didn’t have the time to watch many movies. Eventually netflix sent me an ‘offer I couldn’t refuse’ and I resigned – I am still with the service today

In most cases you can get a 2 week trial subscription – you still have to use a credit card to sign up, but you are not charged until after the 2 week trial – you can cancel at any time. I am certain that this works as I initially signed up using the 2 week trial, but cancelled – I eventually resigned up, but at that time was unable to use another 2 week trial as I had previously used one.

For the full review click here.

Conversations with God

**Synopsis**

A desperate, out of work man, whose life seems to be going nowhere, decides to ask God for some answers to his questions. After surprisingly receiving answers, that are spiritual but also practical, he decides to share these answers with the world. Not only do these answers change his world, but also provide a spiritual message to millions of readers around the world.

We follow Donald Walsch as he stumbles through life, living rough and eventually finding a job only to be shattered when the radio station he works for becomes bankrupt. In his desperation he calls upon God for answers….

**The Movie**

There are many things that stand out about this movie. Firstly, the beautiful landscapes that are predominant in the movie, showing that beauty continues to exist even in the darkest of time, is a suitable commentary for the movie; its comments that God is there even when you are down.

As you watch Donald Walsch as he descends into his own ‘hell’, you feel desperation with him as luck seems to desert him. Feeling his pain, you begin to feel surprise and wonder as he begins to form relationships with other homeless people, demonstrating that ‘but for the Grace of God’ we all could be in a similar situation.

Read the full review here.

The Departed

**Synopsis**

Martin Scorsese finally gets the ultimate prize (The Oscar) for his brutal portrayal of divided loyalties, and hidden identities within the Irish Mafia and the police force. Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) is a young cop given the difficult task of infiltrating the Irish Mafia. Collin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is the opposite, being a street criminal who infiltrates the police department to spy on them and pass information to Frank Costello (Jack Bicholson) the ruthless leader of the local Irish Mafia.

As the power of the Irish mafia increases, both men are under pressure to deliver the hidden spy in the organizations in which they are entrenched.

**The Movie**

I have to admit to being thoroughly confused initially; perhaps due to my inferior eye sight, or perhaps because it wasn’t totally explained, I thought that Billy Costigan and Collin Sullivan were the same character – the problem for me was that Matt Damon and DiCaprio looked uncannily similar in this movie. It seemed very strange to me that a character could be entrenched in the Mafia and then also walk around in public as a cop. Once I got over the initial confusion and noticed that the tow main characters were in fact different characters, I began to settle into the movie.

The coincidence of having a good cop as an undercover agent in the Irish Mafia, and then having a bad cop being a member and informant for the same Irish Mafia was a little unbelievable for me. Having said that, the winding plot as both characters tried to keep their role hidden, while struggling with this role was interesting and striking.

Watching the stress and the frustration of Billy Costigan as he entrenched himself in the Irish Mafia, and through acts of violence forged trust within the inner circle of the leadership, hammered home to me how difficult and dangerous these jobs must be. It was obvious, through the demonstrations of distrust within the Irish Mafia, that one false step would end in Billy’s death.

Read the full review here.

Eragon (DVD)

**Synopsis**

Christopher Paolini, the author of Eragon, drew on classic fantasy throughout the ages to produce a fairly standard coming of age fantasy story. A young boy (Eragon) discovers a mysterious stone, that turns out to be a dragon’s egg. His life is changed when he discovers he has a destiny to fulfil, reigniting the legends of dragon riders, and fighting a malevolent enemy whose intent is to destroy all dragons and their riders. From initial tragedy, we see Eragon travel through a ruthless world as he seeks answers to his heritage and his talents; his journey is beset with danger, but with his trusty Dragon he begins to discover his own immense powers.

**The Movie**

First of all, with any book that is transferred to a movie, you always lose something in the transformation. While the movie does stay fairly faithful to the original book, there is a whole section missing. In the book we see Eragon build a relationship with his dragon over time (and several chapters); this is an important part of the book as it defines the link between the two and shows the depth of connection they have. The movie glosses over this part in a five minute segment that almost spoiled the movie for me. To see a baby dragon suddenly become a full grown dragon in an instant was very annoying.

Having said that, the plot of the movie was pretty much the same as the book and flowed very well. Having read the book it’s hard to me to say if the plot of the movie was easy to follow for a newcomer, but I suspect it was.

Read the full review here.

Hannibal Rising

We all know Hannibal Lecter; we’ve seen Jodie Foster go white when Anthony Hopkins chillingly utters a memorable slurping noise, and laughed when he utters the famous ‘I’m having a friend for dinner’ line.
Hannibal Lecter is perhaps one of the most recognizable characters from recent movie history; the cultivated, classic feel of old English gentry often makes us forget that Hannibal is pure evil incarnate; without compassion or compulsion he would kill you and eat you. His name inspires chills down countless backs, even though he is a fictional character.

The paradox that is Hannibal, the caring gentle artistic man that also is a mass murdering cannibal has never truly been investigated or explained – it has been hinted at, but not in much detail. Hannibal Rising tries to demystify the monster, giving us some insight to the pure evil genius that is Hannibal and the events and horrors that transformed a young innocent boy into the evil we know.

Personal note – part of the intrigue of Hannibal was the fact that the evil was never truly explained – the horrors of the past were glimpsed, but not revealed. This was part of the beauty of Silence of the Lambs and left you trying to consider what could create such a monster. Having it laid out for you in specific detail demystifies the character and by doing so, diminishes the character. For me this movie was more about creating a cash cow, than answering all the ‘unanswered’ questions – it simply was an un-needed movie in my opinion.

The Story

Towards the end of World War II as the Russians sweep through Eastern Europe eradicating the Nazi threat, a group of mercenaries take over Hannibal’s family home. This event is preceded by the death of his family, aside from his sister. Not recovered from this sad and tortuous event, Hannibal is forced to endure further emotional distress as the mercenaries kill and subsequently eat his sister. This event alone is enough to almost destroy the young Hannibal and he forces himself to suppress the memories.

Read the full review here.

The Witcher (PC)

Over the years I’ve probably played 100s of computer RPGs ranging from freeware and shareware games, to top of the range, multi-million dollar budget games. Yet, despite playing these games, none have ever captured me for more than a few weeks, and with some of the longer games I didn’t even finish them (without resorting to some kind of cheat). However, for once, a game has come along that combines the hack and slash of some of the more simplistic games, with the atmosphere and character building of the often too complex AD&D games.

From the very first moment, with the opening movie, which is stunning, you are immersed in a dark dank world full of danger and dripping with atmosphere. This initial movie, that is several minutes long, really sets the scene on what you are about to experience.

This game is not your normal AD&D hack and slash type of gaming, but is an immersive, adult and dark game that is more about the storyline, rather than manipulation of statistics, armor class and Thac0 – you know all that geekish stuff (Before I offend the geeks, I am a self professed geek – and this game does have those elements – leveling up etc, but I found that they are not as important as many other games).

Read the full review here.

Death at a Funeral

Frank Oz, perhaps more famed for his puppets and a few successful movies, embarks on a wild and farcical journey with his quirky British comedy “Death at a Funeral”.

As we enter the movie, with the undertakers bringing the wrong body to the son of an ‘exceptional man’ we begin to feel that something strange is about to happen. Starting off slowly we are introduced to the cast all heading to a family funeral filled with your typical British middle class extended family members.

Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) is the dutiful son, living at home with his fiancé, helping his mother arrange the funeral of his father. Robert (Rupert Graves), his selfish, self loving brother, a very successful writer jets in from New York to attend the funeral – Daniel an aspiring writer himself is worried about the eulogy he is writing, as he always feels under the shadow of his brother.

The reverend (Thomas Wheatley) whose timetable is full, is keen to get the funeral started, but the brothers insist that they must wait for their uncle to arrive (The uncle is perhaps one of the funnier characters in the movie, being in a wheelchair, he is foul mouthed – and also provides some ‘slapstick’ humor in the bathroom.).

Read the full review here.

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Movie)

There are many great books in this world, but not many transfer onto the big screen very well. Normally, the feel of the world you are reading about, or the multiple levels of characters you are reading about never really transforms, and you often are left with a shadow of the book. The Lord of the Rings (LOTR_ series was perhaps a gamble for Peter Jackson; to take one of the most beloved books of all time and try and produce three classic movies that satisfied not only the multitude of Tolkien fans, but also inspire a new audience was a near impossible task, and yet somehow Peter Jackson managed to pull the magic of LOTR into the movie theater.
Synopsis

The movie ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ is an excellent rendition of the first book of Tolkien’s expansive Lord of the Rings series. Perhaps the father of modern fantasy, Tolkien’s world is full of adventure, romance, good and evil, darkness and light. As a small intrepid band, or a ‘fellowship’ embark on a simple quest to destroy a magic ring, we begin to realize that the fate of Middle Earth (the land where the stories unfold) is in their hands. With a diverse group of adventurers, with a wise wizard, a grumpy dwarf, an aloof elf, a mysterious ranger (man), and barbarian and four Hobbits – two mischievous, one dutiful and one full of dount (Hobbits are basically little men with big hairy feet!) we begin to feel a strange kinship develop as they begin their arduous journey. They path is not easy and is thwart with dangers as the Dark Lord (Sauron) tries to stop their progress – his armies of orcs, goblins, ogres and his sinister lieutenants the Nazgul are forever on their trail.

Jackson’s movie has brought Tolkien’s world to life, with sprawling scenery, wonderful villages and cities (these are just as I imagined as Tolkien described them!), superb acting, exceptional sound and special effects, this movie introduces LOTR and the world Middle Earth to the audience very well. Slowly it builds on the characters and friendships as we move to a dark and frightening climax. This is a must see movie for all Tolkien lovers, and non lovers alike.



Full Opinion

When I was 10 my parents and I went on vacation to a place called Tenby in West Wales (UK); it was a wonderful summer’s week – I walked into a book store looking for something to read on the beach. I had read The Hobbit previously, and recognizing the name, felt a little daunted as I picked up LOTR. I read the whole book that week. The book transported me into a world of fantasy, and the ‘realness’ of the world was convincing. The books caught my imagination and catapulted me into a joy of reading (especially the Fantasy genre) – no series has caught me in the same way although a few have come close.

For full opinion click here.

Assassin's Creed (PC)

I have seen the hype for this game for several month’s now and after my Daughter’s rave review of the game on a friend’s PS3 I decided to take the plunge and buy it for my PC. I generally like playing fantasy RPG or strategy games, so this was a slight deviation from my normal game, but with the reviews I have read, and the screenshots and video I had seen it looked like it was an enjoyable game

Installation

Normally I would leave the ‘installation’ part of the review until the end, as it often isn’t a major factor in deciding whether the game is good, however, with my own experience of installation I felt it important to include this first.

In small print on the box you will notice ‘Video Card: 256MB Direct X 10.0 – compliant video card or Direct x 9.0 – compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 higher or equivalent. Now I bought my PC about 2 years ago – it was top of the range at the time, but the installed video card that came with the PC would not work with this game. Luckily I upgraded my PC with a 512MB ATI Radeon X1500 last year – while this is not listed as a supported card, it does run the game, so before you buy the game check out the video card specifications.

In a yellow box on the back of the case there’s also another notice “This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives” – pretty innocuous I thought – how wrong could I be! I have dual DVD drives – one is a DVD writer, the other a standard DVD/CD reader. I first tried to install from my main DVD drive. After about ten minutes I suddenly receive an error – something about Newfeatures1, and the game essentially didn’t install. I tried it again after cleaning the DVD – no luck. AHA google – so I trundled over to Google, searched for the error message and started to cry. According to most ‘blogs’ and other sites, the only way to fix this was to get a replacement!

Ahhh but I am not that easily dissuaded, so I decided to read the documentation…hmmm nothing in there…the ubi support site is a mess and it took me ten minutes to find anything to do with this error…hmmm….replace……undeterred I then noticed the aforementioned little yellow box. EUREKA!!! I switched to my secondary DVD drive and the game installed…..

So be aware that in some cases you may not be able to install the game!

Tutorial

OK so most games have a tutorial that teaches the fundamentals of the game. Now I’ve been playing games for nearly 30 years so I decided to skip this….hmmm….OK how do I do that? Son of a beeswax…I couldn’t do it….I had to go through a couple of minutes introduction, then go through a ten minute tutorial….AHHHHH with the installation problems….and this…it actually took me about an hour to actually get into the real game!!!!!

I should note that the Tutorial was actually pretty good and did go through some important elements of the game such as sprinting and hiding, silent combat, getting noticed etc….so I begrudgingly accepted that the Tutorial was OK.

The Game

Ahhhhh finally. Well like most people I don’t normally read the manual – I had to skim through it to try and get the game installed, but generally the manual seemed very sparse. The tutorial went a long way to help me understand the concepts of the game, so I was fairly happy to dive right into the game. The first ‘memory’ as they are called involved following a couple of assassin buddies to retrieve treasure for my boss. Before doing anything I went into the options and changed the graphics setting to maximum….two minutes later I went back and changed the graphics settings back to what was first presented to me…..looks like my computer isn’t powerful enough for full graphics mode, despite meeting all requirements – looks like you’ll need dual graphics cards (cross fire) a high end processor and oodles of memory….well even at the lower graphics level the game still looked pretty awesome…

For full opinion click here.

Witness

Now that I have a Netflix.com subscription I am able to go back and find those elusive movies that not only action and drama, but also contained an indefinable element that seems to be severely lacking from today’s lackluster movies. Witness is one of those movies that with some excellent performances manages to tell a convincing story while not being over the top

Living in South New Jersey, I have been one of those ‘tourists’ who have marveled at the simple and hard lifestyle of the Amish community. I was therefore very intrigued to find a movie which combined modern day Phildapelphia, with crime and murder very prevalent, with a more sedate and innocent lifestyle – the potential entwining of the two seemingly an oxi-moron.

Witness, starts of at a funeral; we are introduced to two main characters as we share their grief, and see the simple and profound way in which the community surrounds them with love and help. Rachel Lippis (Kelly McGillis) and her son Samuel, having lost their husband and father decide to leave the community for a while and visit Rachel’s sister in Baltimore. The journey includes a trip through Philadelphia. While waiting for a delayed train, they are both suddenly catapulted into the harsh reality of modern life. Samuel witnesses a murder in the bathroom, and despite the fear and anxiety of the ordeal manages to avoid the perpetrator.

John Book (Harrison Ford) arrives on the scene and immediately takes charge. He takes the two Amish on a whirlwind tour of the area looking for the suspect, delving into some of the depravity of modern life. The fear of the mother and son is palpable, and their initiation into modern day society is not a good one. Suddenly John’s world is turned upside down as it turns out that the murderer is a decorated officer, and furthermore his superior officer is also involved. The result of this is that John is shot, and flees to Amish country with mother and son. The Amish society suddenly becomes embroiled in the drama as they nurse John back to health and he becomes entrenched in Amish society.

For full opinion click here.

Blade Runner

Ridley Scott ranks amongst my favorite directors. He’s moved the whole Sci-Fi genre out of the depths of geekdom into a world in which the plot is more than simple lazer pistols and scantily clad nymphets Shame do I hear you cry?, but is deeper and darker – with atmosphere and storyline oozing out of every pore. Aliens proved how a simple concept, with a thick atmosphere could turn a sci-fi movie into a suspenseful and often frightening movie.

Ridley Scott seems to focus on potential futures. Aliens tells of a sinister alien race we are yet to encounter. What makes Ridley Scott so good is his ability to bring the audience into the story and make them believe that it is an inevitable future, not simply a fictional story.

Blade Runner in my opinion is his tour de force. It is a very dark and sinister movie that is amazingly subtle at times and builds on drama and suspense in such a way that you are often on the edge of your seat. Ridley’s vision of the future is one of darkness and fear, one in which you sense that everyone is out to get you, and it is a trial simply to survive in the world. Much like living in New Jersey – before you cry foul I live in NJ and love it!!!. Add to this an element of eroticism and sexual tension that never really emerges fully, together with a spattering of subtle tension and apprehension and you have a classic in the making.....

For full review click here.